Today i go visit the Maya Ruins in Teotihacan and i'm sooo excited!!!:D i read about it sooo much and i couldnt wait to see it in real live!

as usual my driver and bodyguard Cruz was bringing me there and followed me allll day long! it takes about 1,5h to get there from Toluca cause you have to drive trough Mexico City...buut that was alright cause so i could see a bit more of this huuuuge town!;)

The pyramids you see from miles away and the nearer you come the bigger they get until you stand in front of them and all you can say is: WOW!...we parked at the entrence 5 which i think is the best one...the museeum is just there and when you enter you are just where the Piramide del Sol is! The entrence is something like 45 Peso and the parking an other 30$! really not much!

Being me and hating my "bodyguard" i was mean enough to myself to climp up EVER single piramyd i could:P! but i was soo impressed of those huuge buildings with their old story behind i just had to look at everything! El piramide del sol is amazing...when you stand infort you feel like a smal ant looking of a huuuge mountain! and when you stand on top you have the most amazing view over the beautiful landscape of Mecixo and an overview over the mayavillage!

Take enough water and a good sunbloke and sunhat with you!!!! the sun was burning and there is not much shadow!

However it was an amazing day and i was deeply impressed by what those ppl were able to build...! I was alble to walk up all the piramydes to the top which you arent anymore! you can still go up but not to the top!

One year later when i went to Mexico with my family i traveld from cancun to mexico city and went to visit many more maya ruins in between but i have to say that Teotihacan is by far the most amazing one!!! i saw them before all the others and then felt like: oh they are so smal:P...but my parents saw then in the end and then said the same!

Its one of the few places i would say you have to see onc in your life!
A not forgetable day for me and finally something i loved about Mexico...of course it would of been nicer to share this special experiance with someone else then on my own...or my disliked bodybuard...!...i guess thats why i went back an other time in 2008 with a good friend:D!

Today we made the 2h trip to Teotihuacan, the Maya Pyramids near Mexico City.

It was my second time there but still i think its absolutly unbelivable what those ppl built hundrets of years ago!!!

As usual we were driven there by my hostfams driver so we didnt have to look for the right entrence or anything;)...we got there at about 11am and since it was a normal week day there werent many tourists which was great!

First we went up the Pyramide del sol, which is the biggest one...hard work to get up there:P! but the view is just wonderful!
Unfort we didint have any hats or something since we lost our luggage and the sun was burning!
So we went to one of those souvenirshops and got to silly looking hats but they did their job:P!

Afterwards we went up the other pyramids and chilled a bit on the top;)!

Back home we were sunburned but full of great memories!

After driving back to Mexico City the day before, it was time to experience some of Mexico's culture. Abril had decided that today I would visit the Pyramids at Teotihuacan. I was pretty excited because this is the real reason why you travel; that and to try the local beer and locals.

Manual packed the car and we started out from the apartment, passing the seven stray dogs with matted coats the made the alley way their home. We stopped a few minutes later to fill the car up with petrol (Gas for Americans), this is an experience too. Firstly, because you never leave the car. In the UK you do everything yourself, in Mexico you do nothing because someone can make a few pesos doing it for you! Our car was serviced by a very pretty girl in an oily boiler suit; she filled the car with gas, checked the oil, tyres then cleaned the windscreen - passing low enough over the bonnet for both Manual and I to observe what the oily rags were hiding! Abril disciplined Manual with a quick bark and a slap on the back of his chair!

Around an hour of Mexican cruising later and we arived at the pyramids. Not that you'd know, because from the approach all you can see is a giant car park. As you walk in through the seventies style shopping complex offering rock statues and silver necklaces, passed the toilets and out the other side you get your first chance to see the stone pyramids. They are impressive, if not a little stout. Actually walking toward them is another story because in true Mexican tradition, thirty men and women try to sell you everything from corn on the cob to silver jewelry, made heavy by them pressing it into your hand!

There are two main pyramids. One represents the Moon, where energy is relased and the other, the Sun, where you are recharged. To do this you have to walk over a mile of small walls and climb the moon pyramid. Stand with your hands up in the air and breath in and out. Then do the same on the Sun. After this you are renewed and ready to battle your way back through the street sellers. Ok, I admit some of the things they sell are quite nice and it wasn't like I could come all the way to Mexico and go home without a guinine authentic, hand carved in China ornament for my office!

Worth mentioning, is the a restuarant called La Grotta that's just outside of the pyramids. It's set inside the enterance of a huge cavern, the food is not bad and it's a great place to relax after walking all day around the dusty stone buildings.

We got up at 7am today to head out to the Pyramids! This was both our first metro trip as well as our first bus trip to this area approximately 1 hour outside Mexico City. A lot of things strike me about Mexico City, and the first one is how kind and helpful people are. A nice young man helped us find our way from the subway to the bus station walking us the entire way, which was a bit of a ways, and made sure we got on the correct bus. Then he walked back to where he neede dto go. This didn't take more than 10 minutes, but this was 10 minutes that your average American probably wouldn't choose to spend helping tourists out.

Everywhere we go there are people helping you out, giving you advice, making sure you are going to the right place. Another of my countless examples of this is when we exited the University metro stop and couldn't figure out how to get to a certain part of the enormous campus. We approached a shuttle driver who told us where to go. Somehow we managed to misunderstand the directions, and as this other shuttle was pulling away, he got out, ran and whistled for ths shuttle to stop so that we could get on it. Mind you he got out of his bus, went about 50 feet and discovered we were standing at this stop while the bus we were supposed to get on pulling away and felt compelled to right this wrong! =)

Ok so back to my day that would not end. We spent a seriously exhausting morning at the pyramids. And by exhausting I mean 90 degrees of full impact sun, no shade, and a 2+ mile walk in either direction to get to the pyramids. My goodness these people really loved their stairs! It's like they discovered how to make stairs, thought they were so pretty and so decided to put them EVERYWHERE! Sybil and I would shimmy around the side of some of the structures so that we didn't have to go down each rock-framed plot of land just to go back up it on the other side to the next plot of land. I will never look at stairs the same way again... Sybil climbed up and down everything while I watched from the bottom and was accosted by nice but multiple vendors, and I painstakingly scaled up the 1st tier of the Pyramid of the Moon at the very end of the Avenue of the dead - using the rope to haul myself up. But the views were worth it! On the way down I had to stare at the person in front of me for fear of dizziness.

A word about the vendors.. they are really sweet, some of them really persistent because well, this is their living! But they won't bother you too much, it just gets annoying having to face 20+ of them each way up the avenue to the Pyramids and back down. They sell mostly bracelets, obsidian masks (heavy! no way I'm carrying that down the avenue!) and handmade pipes that they will play sorrowful 3-note tunes out of. There are many other things, but the ones I mentioned are the prettiest. My advice is to have a heart and buy something for someone, they're happy to bargain a little bit and you can usually walk away with a handful of little things or a couple of bracelets for under $10 usd.

By the end of the day my feet were swollen and in pain, as I have very little feet and definitely weigh a few pounds more than I should. Instead of resting like normal people we decided to go see the famed Casa Azul, which was unfortunately another mile walk away from the subway station. But it was so pretty - I was missing Andi very much when we approached this building! Many of her works and self portraits were here, as well as the furnishings from their time together. Frida's medical corsets were also saved, which looked so painful you just have to appreciate modern medicine and moden therapy where treatment and comfort are both taken into account. This house made me wonder about Frida and Diego's life together. It's really very whimsical and strong at the same time. Unfortunately my feet would take me no further and that was all we were able to see of Coyoacan, which is a nice bohemian-feeling part of town.

I believe after this we went to the end of the blue line to UNAM, a huge University (which is untravel-able by foot it's so large). After having the shuttle drivers decipher some pretty difficult directions (after all it's inside a campus, so there are no street intersections to go by), we ended up at this restaurant that Sybil was dying to go to called Azul Y Oro. If you're looking for a real restaurant, this probably wouldn't register high, but if this were a restaurant cooperative (which is kind of what it felt like), it was definitely a cool attempt at a collective enterprise (such as the Pantry in downtown LA).

By this time, I was probably in so much pain that I wanted to kill myself or amputate my feet or something like that. But it was definitely cool seeing the UNAM campus. We got a pretty full tour of Mexico City on our first day, and Sybil met another traveler and went to a local bar afterwards, which I was SO happy about because I knew she wanted to see the local nightlife and I could not oblige her no matter how sweetly and persistently she asked. I happily crawled into bed and finally got some rest after a day that felt like it would never end.

I’ve been to see and climb the pyramids 3 maybe 4 times and I love the experience each time.  Too see what humans are capable of building without the benefits of gas-fueled machines or a computer is just amazing.  

This was Daniel’s first time at Teotihuacan, which is the main reason we had to take him to see one of the must-go-to places in Mexico.

It was a beautiful day with the sun shining through fluffy white clouds and a nice, cool breeze blowing.  The breeze was a great help as we made our way up and down the hundreds of steps.

This was a tiring day and our last full day in Mexico.  The next morning we flew back to Chicago.

Overall the experience was great for a last minute getaway…but no more concerts in Mexico for me… ☺

Teotihuacán significa Ciudad de los Dioses y es una antigua ciudad perteneciente a una civilización anterior a los aztecas. De hecho los aztecas se influenciaron grandemente de esta cultura cuando viniendo del norte pasaron por aquí para fundar su país (México-Tenochtitlan).Delos teotihuacanos los aztecas tomaron su religión principalmente. Teotihuacan fue una ciudad muy rica pero la explotación inmoderada de los bosques que la rodeaban trajo consigo una crisis ecológica que trajo pobreza a la mayor parte de la población y se dice que una revolución fue lo que destruyó la ciudad...no fueron en este caso los españoles que llegaron varios siglos después de la caída de Teotihuacán.

Teotihuacan se encuentra aproximadamente a 50 km al noreste de la Ciudad de México y es un lugar obligado para visitar...si te interesa entender la historia de México.

Teotihuacan means City of  Gods and it is an ancient city belonging  to a civilization previous the aztecs. The aztecs were influenced by the teotihuacan culture when coming from the north they... From the teotihuacans the aztecs copied their religion.Teotihuacan was a very rich city but they destroyed all the neighboring forest

Today I was going to do something special and after a week of relaxing in "Cuernavaca" it felt good to do some travelling again. Today our destination was going to be Teotihuacan and more important the Aztec ruins that are found there. The travel group of today was going to be Hannah, Tere, Ricardo and me. That's why we headed first to Mexico City to pick up Ricardo. The trip to Mexico City was done by bus and metro, which was actually quit boring, because I was to tired to to enjoy it. We woke up at 7 in the morning and I'm not used to that anymore, most of the time I wake up at 10.

After picking up Ricardo we went by car to Teotihuacan. From a small distance you already see the temple of the Sun standing above all the tree and during this view a thought went trough my mind. Last week I visited Cholula and it was said that there was the biggest man-made-building of the old age. Seeing the the temple of the sun made me really wonder how huge this temple must have been, because the temple of the sun was already huge and we had to climb it.

After parking the car we went to the ruin site, and come to think of it, it was my first time in a Aztec city which was still more or less intact. It was amazing, the looks of this city were truly amazing and I was thinking what this place would be like in its glory days. I found out that this place used to be a jungle with plants and animals everywhere. At the moment it looked old and death, but that used to be really different. We decided to go up the temple of the sun, which was a very difficult climb, because like every temple the stairs are really small and way bigger than my big European feet. At the top of the temple the view was amazing and at the centre there used to be the ritual place and if you would hold your finger there for 15 seconds you would be recharged with energy. I didn't do it, because being in a place like that filled me with adrenaline. We went down again after enjoying the view and we were literly ambushed by souvenirs venders. I had to fight for my life to get away, so many of them were there. I didn't surive and I bought a really nice T-shirt.

But there was still mcuh more to see at therefore we decided to walk to the temple of the Moon, a smaller temple than the temple of the sun but equally impressive. The only negative point was that you could go to the top of the temple. Half-way there was a barrier which prevented you to go any further. The square in front of the temple was the best of the entire site. On each site there were two other small temples and in the centre there was a platform where public rituals were performed, this also inclued ritual sacrefices. This was for the time special, because most of the ritual were only to be seen by the priest and other people with high positions in society , but mainly only by religious people. I went up this temple alone, because the other were or tired or overheated. The view there was special because you could look up the entire main road of the city, the road of the dead. It looked really amazing, because next to the road there where or other houses or smaller temples.

Down to earth again (meaning on the ground) we went to the toilet, because walking makes you wanting to go to the potty. In the end this was a very wise decision because otherwis we wouldn't have seen some really nice stuff. Near the toilets there was the "gouvener palace" (or whatever it is called) and the "place of the jaguars" The gouvener palace was small but amazing ,because there some some murials that were intact. Tere overheard a guide and the explantion is really nice. You have to ask me again with the pictures and I will give the explanation, because it is to long to write it down here. At the "place of the juguars" we went inside in some sort of a museum and inside we saw some sort of shires, probably belonging to the rain god, but they weren't quit sure about that. In any ace there were some amazing murials with parrots give water to a plant that could be find here.

Outside the museum again we decided to take a long walk to the temple of quetzalcotl, which in my opinion was the best temple, because there were two temples, one in front and one behind that and because you couldn't see the temple behing the one it looked like another temple but even smaller than the other two. The others decided no to go and the waited on the staires infront of the temple square. I went and I looked really nice, because the statues behing the boring temple were really amazing. It were the faces of quetzalcotl.

After I decided to return back (because I couldn't make them wait for to long) we went to "La Gruta" a restaurant build within a cave (read my review for more information) That was the best desert we could have after a day like this. We ate something and we returned to Mexico to get the bus to "Cuernavaca" again. In order to plan our next trip to Cancun, or Not.

'La Gruta", the Spanish word for caves, As you might expect the the restaurant might have something to do with a caves. I expected to be a normal restaurant which was customized to look like a cave, but it is far from that. The actual restaurant is build in a cave. As you go to the entrance of the restaurant you see everybody sitting enjoying their meal about 20 meters below you. You are appointed to your table and that is were the really fun starts. You are going to enjoy your meal in a caves. The whole set up in the cave is Mexican (Aztecs, because the restaurant is located by a Aztec ruin site of Teotihuacan) and during your meal you are entertained by or music, magicians or any other form of entertainment. Only to sitting there enjoying a drink is already a amazing. For Mexican terms it is a really expensive restaurant, but the location makes it more than bearable. The food is what you might expect from a place exclusive like this,the food is more or less Haute Cuisine. The food is delicious, but the size of the dishes are to small (except for the starters which are quit big for starters) to take away any hungry feeling you might have after a day visiting the temples in Teotihuacan. The menu is made up with mainly Mexican dishes (like Taco's, but it's called differently) and a few other international dishes (like American T-Bone) and the menu is in both Spanish and English. You can choose from many different starters to many different deserts. And for the children there is a special menu made. I wouldn't recommend this place for the food only, which is really delicious. But there are many places in Mexico where the food is equaly delicious, but a lot cheaper. You have to go here to experience eating in a cave and although Mexican days are really warm it is always handy to bring some warn clothes, because this cave is not equipped with a central heating or protection against the wind/rain.

Today was our first tour and that was excellent as it would certainly help a lot so that my foot will get better.  Anyway, we woke up kind of late  so when we were dressed our guide was already there and we hadn't the chance to grab any breakfast. We left the hotel with the guide and a driver to pick up the rest of the people. For this tour we were only 7;a couple of Mexicans that live in L.A. and speak crappy spanish, three Argentineans (One from Buenos Aires and 2 from Patagonia, Carlos and I.

We went then on our way to Teotihuacan, but first we made a quick stop at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas to take a quick picture of how architecture from modern mexico, colonial mexico and prehispanic mexico mixes in a single place. After that it was about 30 minutes on the highway until we arrived to a place where they showed us how pulque was made and also some clothing. As part of the demonstration I got to drink a shot of pulque and a couple of tequilas.

About ten minutes later, we reached the City of the Gods. At first when I saw the Sun Pyramid I thought I wouldn't make it all the way up. Once I was already at the top, I swore not to smoke ever again (but of course I did) and then started wondering how the hell I was supposed to go back down. After we walked around the pyramids we went to grab a bite to eat at a fairly good restaurant named Piramide Charlie's. Lastly, on our way back we went to the Basilica of Guadalupe and it was raining, just like every single day since we arrived. I liked it though.

When we took our tour to Teotihuacan (with the Mallorca travel agency) our guide took us to this restaurant to have lunch. I must say I loved the decoration and the food was good, not a piece of heaven, but it was decently good. When you ask for a beer, they bring you two small beers and that is kind of funny. As for the food, they have all sorts of meals, but they mostly have mexican food. I had the Enchiladas in Mole, and I think Carlos had the chicken. I do recommend the Mole enchiladas, unless you are likely to make a mess while eating something with sauce or semi-solid food (like me).